Community engagement - District 91��Ƭistration

Parent engagement: How to build better partnerships

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 13:05:56 +0000

As confident as leaders may feel about spearheading new student success initiatives, assuming parent engagement is a given may be unwise. Jennifer Miller, a child development consultant and coach, often senses tension when mediating conversations between educators, parents and students.

“So often the elephant in the room is trust,” says Miller, who’s also the author of . “There can be a real lack of trust surrounding how we can contribute to making sure that our children thrive.”

As educators work to reverse learning loss and behavioral declines in the wake of the pandemic, districts are ramping up outreach efforts to win back buy-in, collaboration and engagement from two of the most important players in students’ development: their parents and the community.

‘Humanizing’ your district

Survey responses from 1,000 community members across the Visalia Unified School District in Tulare County, California, indicated that in 2022, they held a 20% confidence rate in its incoming superintendent, Kurt Shrum. Shrum was the fourth superintendent in six years to take over a conservative-leaning district fraught with campus violence and rigorous activism related to the Black Lives Matter Movement.

“If you’re not telling your story, someone else will,” says Andre Pecina, Visalia’s former head communications strategist.

Pecina worked diligently on “humanizing” Superintendent Kirk Shrum to parents and community members through a multi-pronged campaign involving digital communications and door-to-door outreach, tapping feedback from Visalia’s two unincorporated communities and one migrant camp.

The campaign, which generated over 20,000 engagements, boosted Shrum’s confidence rate by 66 percentage points and helped the district win an award for outstanding public relations from the California School Board Association.

“People will bash their district, but they won’t bash their neighbor,” says Pecina, now the superintendent of Corcoran Joint Unified School District just 50 miles south of Visalia.

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But communication—and by extension, trust—is a two-way street. One of Miller’s most important objectives is strengthening district leaders’ empathy for the challenges parents and students face in the family environment. By doing so, she hopes educators and parents can co-create learning objectives that transcend district-defined measures of student success.

“Self-management and executive functioning are higher-order thinking skills that parents have to manage at home, and it’s absolutely critical in the classroom for educators,” she says.

Empowering parents for student success

Earnest conversations surrounding student development between districts, parents and community members can only work if the latter two feel like their contributions can make a difference, says Kimi Kean, CEO of Families in Action, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating education disparities across Oakland, California. “It’s really about rebalancing class and power. The principal feels powerful, but how do we imbue our parents with that same sense of investment and ownership?”

One of its four pillars, Lit for Literacy, involves strengthening parental involvement in their children’s reading development. Kean helps parents build a sense of agency by inviting superintendents to speak to them and “demystify the data” surrounding student success metrics. For example, just 60% of parents in Oakland report knowing if their children are performing at grade level in math or ELA. Invigorated by their newfound knowledge, parents learn about book walks, book talks, timed reading and other tutoring techniques.

“It isn’t about a random parent having these big ‘aha’ moments,” Kean says. “We’re helping schools build a team of family literacy champions who can continue leading at school.”

Nearly 90% of students whose parents became a family literacy champion saw between 30 and 100 points of reading growth last year, according to Kean. However, parents who may feel discouraged by their own lack of literacy or math skills should know that the most important aspect of tutoring is simply showing up.

“You do not need to understand the novel that they’re taking in English literature,” Miller of Confident Parents says. “What you do need to do is support your child when they want to give up.”

Gaining the entire community

In California, public school districts must translate all official communications when 15% or more of students speak a primary language other than English. But Pecina, superintendent of Corcoran Unified, sees their 3% Yemenis population as a population worth catering to.

“Even though some populations may fall below the threshold, that shouldn’t dictate the way we engage our community,” he says.

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Parent engagement: How to build better partnerships

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 12:40:39 +0000

‘Humanizing’ your district

“If you’re not telling your story, someone else will,” says Andre Pecina, Visalia’s former head communications strategist.

“People will bash their district, but they won’t bash their neighbor,” says Pecina, now the superintendent of Corcoran Joint Unified School District just 50 miles south of Visalia.

More from 91��Ƭ: What does Trump have in mind for K12 education?

“Self-management and executive functioning are higher-order thinking skills that parents have to manage at home, and it’s absolutely critical in the classroom for educators,” she says.

Empowering parents for student success

“It isn’t about a random parent having these big ‘aha’ moments,” Kean says. “We’re helping schools build a team of family literacy champions who can continue leading at school.”

Gaining the entire community

“Even though some populations may fall below the threshold, that shouldn’t dictate the way we engage our community,” he says.

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How to sync success with your school board, part one

Fri, 13 Dec 2024 14:25:13 +0000

“Every single school district is going to face complex situations that involve change,” says Sun Prairie Area School District Superintendent . It’s inevitable.

Saron relies on his board’s governance model to streamline the onboarding process so new members can join the board and operate on a united front. Here’s how you can, too.

To ensure your board can navigate your school system through change, members should adhere to best leadership practices that are similar to those followed by superintendents, says Saron who is in his 10th year at the Wisconsin district.

Change in your school board is expected, adds Steve Schroeder, the district’s senior member of 13 years. Four of the board’s seven members have yet to serve one three-year term. It’s easy to assume that school boards with similar dynamics might experience clashes of opinions and goals. Sun Prairie is an exception.

Embracing a united front

Sun Prairie has several structures in place to ensure its school board operates in accord. It utilizes a governance model that is a “cousin of policy governance,” Schroeder explains. In essence, the members set policies while providing the superintendent with the authority and autonomy to make day-to-day decisions to meet the objectives of the board.

“Board members are nothing more than trustees,” says Schroder. “They’re just the voice for their communities.”

Its governance model follows 10 specific principles:

The board is accountable to the owners, and serves as their trustee.
The board knows what its job is, and is responsible for its own performance.
The board plans its own work, and faithfully concentrates on its governance role.
The board is active, but not intrusive.
Board members recognize the value of acting as a unit, even when unanimity is elusive.
The board effectively monitors both the organization’s and its own performance.
The board controls the organization through policy, not through “resolutions” or approving administrative recommendations.
The board owns the vision for organizational performance.
He or she who makes the decision is accountable for the result.
The board considers the performance of the organization and the performance of the superintendent to be identical.

“Having that framework has helped us tremendously,” says Schroeder. “I was on the board when we didn’t have the framework, and it was like the Wild West.”

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At the time, the board was composed of seven members who wanted to be the superintendent, and one superintendent who just wanted to do his job, he notes.

“We didn’t know any better,” Schroeder explains. “You get elected to a school board and nobody handed me a manual saying, ‘This is what a school board member does.’”

While the board has experienced change in membership over the years, Schroeder believes it has helped members recognize “the rules of the game” and establish a framework that is comprehensive and representative of the district’s goals.

How to manage differences within your board

Across K12, disputes that occur during school board meetings often make headlines. Saron and Schroeder agree that boards are quick to point the finger at each other or the problem, rather than taking accountability and asking, “What can we do better?”

As part of the onboarding process, each Sun Prairie board member learns the finer details of the board’s mission and how they fit into the governance team. A board officer is responsible for ensuring the board sticks to its purpose by following best leadership practices. Here’s an excerpt from its purpose statement.

The Sun Prairie Area School District Board of Education is the governing board of the Sun Prairie Area School District. The board leads, directs, and supervises the affairs of the district through policy development and accountability to expectations. The board serves and is accountable to the community it represents.

“Boards are very good at pointing the finger outward to the system and pointing out everything that’s wrong,” says Schroeder. “What they’re not nearly as good at is pointing the finger inward.”

Schroeder and Saron advocate for taking accountability as an “entity,” and recognizing that the board is responsible for creating district policy. Like principle nine of Sun Prairie’s governance framework states, “He who makes the decision is accountable for the result.”

“I subscribe to the model that you need to clean your own house before cleaning somebody else’s,” Schroeder adds. “What do we need to do to model the behavior that we want others in the system to exemplify?”

In part two of this story, Saron and Schroeder describe the human relationship piece of board governance and how to serve students with civility.

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Chronic absenteeism: How to empower families to take action

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:44:35 +0000

The future of our nation hinges on the education of our children. Yet, one in four U.S. students experiences chronic absenteeism, missing 18 or more school days per year.

published by Rand Corporation and the Center on Reinventing Public Education, reveals that about 9.4 million students—19% of all students—were chronically absent during the 2023-24 school year.

Families are essential to reversing this trend. Their active involvement can make all the difference in fostering a love of learning and encouraging healthy student attendance.

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However, traditional forms of attendance-driven communication rest on one-way absenteeism auto call notifications and letters sent home in the mail. How can we flip the script and more positively engage families around what might be K12’s most significant challenge?

Instead of focusing solely on the problem, districts can bring parents and guardians to the forefront as key partners in the solution.

Working together to end chronic absenteeism

Strong family engagement is a deeply effective strategy to reduce absenteeism. While all school districts have tools in place to inform parents of their child’s school absences, it’s important they convey this information in a positive and holistic way.

Here are five ways districts can place families at the forefront of their attendance improvement strategy:

1. Lead with empathy

Parents of chronically absent students are conditioned to picking up their phone and seeing or hearing messages like “Your child was absent from school today.” Or even worse, receiving punitive letters suggesting truancy court as the next step in their child’s academic journey. Over the course of a year, a parent or guardian may receive multiple autocalls and letters without a single positive or open-ended message.

One suggestion is to avoid starting the conversation with the parent by mentioning absenteeism. Instead, ask how the parent is doing. For example, “Hi! This is Jenna’s teacher, Ms. Rodriguez. I noticed that Jenna missed my science class earlier this week and I wanted to check in on how you’re doing. I’m here to chat any time.”

Demonstrating empathy by asking a small, caring question can lead to stronger partnerships and more trust.

2. Understand the ‘why’ behind student and family absences

No parent wants to feel like they are failing or setting up their child for failure. But socioeconomic barriers like poverty exist, perceptions around the importance of school are real, and aversion to school persists. How can district leaders and administrators understand the “why” behind student absences?

A simple text message or email that can be replied to is a powerful conduit to understanding the complexities behind chronic absenteeism. Shift away from the classic one-way attendance autocall notification and use two-way messaging to ask parents specific questions like, “How is your commute from home to school?” This way, districts will gain valuable insights into transportation challenges, such as parents with multiple children who struggle to get everyone to school on time.

3. Encourage two-way communication

Whether through your district’s school-home communication platform or in person, framing conversations with closed-ended and open-ended questions is an effective way to gather valuable feedback from parents. Consider starting with a closed-ended question like this: “On a scale of 1-10, how do you feel about your child’s school experience?”

Once you gauge their response, ask open-ended questions to elicit more dialogue. These can include asking parents what an ideal school environment looks like for their child or how things are going at home. Conclude by asking parents if the conversation was helpful, and gather any last-minute feedback or areas of improvement to focus on.

4. Build trust between school and home

Building trust requires consistent effort and open communication from both sides. Schools can foster trust by actively listening to parents’ concerns, valuing their input and being transparent about their decisions.

Regularly sharing positive news about students—not just contacting families when there’s a problem—goes a long way in building positive relationships. When parents feel heard and respected and see school as a partner invested in their child’s well-being, a strong foundation of trust is created, leading to better collaboration and improved outcomes for students.

5. Communicate the importance of attendance early and often

Proactive communication is key to getting ahead of chronic absenteeism by ensuring parents and guardians understand the importance of good attendance and the school’s attendance policy.

Instead of waiting for issues to arise, schools should emphasize attendance expectations early and often. This simple but effective approach can help prevent problems before they escalate and ensures parents are informed from the start.

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Ending chronic absenteeism: Effective, empathetic communication is the key

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 19:57:35 +0000

Chronic absenteeism, or missing more than 10% of school days in an academic year, has all kinds of , including reduced academic achievement, increased social and behavioral challenges, increased dropout rates, and even poorer health outcomes over the long term. It has also been a pervasive and intractable challenge for educators.

Stoked by the pandemic, chronic absenteeism rates rose across the U.S. from 15% in 2018 to 28% in 2022, according to from the American Enterprise Institute. While chronic absenteeism rates dropped in 2023, they were still 75% higher than before the pandemic.

At Alexandria City Public Schools, we leaned into communication—beginning with listening to students and their families—to reduce chronic absenteeism. Here is how it worked.

Begin by inviting communication

It was really important for us to not only share and explain the benefits of regular school attendance but to also develop a shared understanding of the factors underlying chronic absenteeism.

To reach that shared understanding, my team in the Department of School & Community Relations engaged in some very intentional and collaborative work across the division that brought in members from our departments of accountability & research, student services & equity, technology services, teaching, learning & leadership and facilities & operations. It was an all-in approach that included building- and division-level leaders and staff.

We conduct annual surveys of students in grades 6-12, staff members, and families to gather perceptions of school and division climate. Other strategies that we used included teacher and family empathy interviews, parent/guardian focus groups and student community circles at the secondary level.

Empathy interviews use a series of open-ended questions, typically in a one-on-one conversation, to help draw out stories and perspectives that provide a richer context and understanding of needs. These interviews were annotated with key ideas and themes and were an incredible opportunity for us to better understand the context, background and influences that inform the drivers of absenteeism in our schools.

Why are students not showing up? Follow where the data leads

The results were eye-opening. We found that some of our assumptions about why students were not showing up were inaccurate. At one particular elementary school, for example, there had been a widely held belief that a new bus route was needed in a specific neighborhood. It was within walking distance of the school, so, in line with division policy, the neighborhood did not get a bus route.

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Many educators at that school thought that transportation was going to be cited frequently by families as a big factor in their absenteeism rate. However, when we spoke with families, we found that many had ineffective or nonexistent morning routines, which led to both late arrivals and absences.

Another learning was that some teachers were not having regular conversations with families about the importance of attendance. Some were not comfortable having that conversation; others were accustomed to the school social worker or other student support team members addressing attendance issues with families.

Additionally, we noted that there were frequent misunderstandings among families about excused and unexcused absences and the impact that each has on a student’s academic, social and emotional learning. There was also a missed opportunity to provide secondary families with real-time notifications about student absences throughout the school day.

Make student attendance a shared responsibility

Conducting interviews with staff and families helped us broaden and deepen our understanding of the root causes behind chronic absenteeism and identify interventions that would have an impact there. We found an opportunity to improve communication between schools and families by leaning into the idea that this is an all-hands-on-deck issue that staff—including bus drivers and classroom teachers—should be bringing up with families whenever possible.

For us, building a culture around attendance and engagement included sharing positive messages that used family- and student-friendly language; increasing the frequency of absence notifications at the secondary level to help families partner with us to address attendance issues; and ensuring absence notifications are sent in families’ preferred languages—all through our communication app, . Beyond these communications, our school communities are implementing home visits, mentoring, incentives and family resource nights to engage students and families as partners in this work.

When our Superintendent Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt was appointed, she named student engagement and attendance as one of her key priorities, which informed the efforts we undertook. Dr. Kay-Wyatt introduced a new mantra across the division of “One Team, One Journey” which served as a backdrop to this work and drove the idea that all were critical to make an impact, especially the inclusion of student voice.

Students are not just an important constituency in this effort, but the people at the center of it, so it was critical their voices were included. Students helped create about the importance of attendance featuring student leaders from the secondary level. They focused on ideas like hanging out with friends, participating in activities students enjoy and gaining access to higher education and eventually better jobs.

Creating an all-hands-on-deck environment for us has also meant creating a division-wide task force that brought together division leaders and school principals for regular conversations about attendance data and trends. Of course, there are many ways we can talk about supporting attendance, but sometimes it is as simple as letting students and families know that they are loved, and their presence is valued.

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5 challenges impacting school-home communications—and how to solve them

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 16:25:18 +0000

There is a severe disconnect between parents and schools about how—and how often—the school-home communications process should work. Thankfully, there’s data administrators can leverage to solve these disparities.

Nearly half (47.5%) of families want weekly updates on their child’s performance, a from edtech provider SchoolStatus suggests. Yet, only 15.5% of teachers and administrators do just that. In fact, schools most commonly send monthly or quarterly updates, according to the data.

So, what’s the reason behind this disconnect? There are several that the researchers have identified. The No. 1 reason is that schools are uncertain whether families receive or see the messages (43%). Other reasons include:

Insufficient time for communication with families (38.2%)
Lack of complete student information to communicate about student needs (33.8%)
Language barriers with families (32%)
Too many communication tools or lack of consistency with them (29.3%)
Inadequate access to tools for effective communication (20.4%)

If any of these challenges sound familiar, here’s what the researchers suggest districts do. First, adopt systems that integrate multiple communication channels—including email, text, calls and app notifications—to ensure timely and relevant messages that match your community’s diverse preferences. Additionally, make sure they offer translation features in the case of language barriers.

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Next, start leveraging data and automation for more effective communication. Search for tools that can help teachers automate attendance tracking and other functions so they can spend more time on instruction and communication with families. Share data insights and provide accessible data analytics with families to ensure conversations are relevant to each child.

Third, develop systems that let families set preferences for message frequency and method to develop the right communication cadence. Offer easy-to-use surveys to encourage feedback.

Finally, train your educators. Offer professional development focused on effective digital communication strategies. Train teachers on cultural competency to improve communication with diverse family populations.

Take a look at the comprehensive report to learn more about data-driven decision-making; attendance and engagement strategies; optimizing technology for education; and building strong school-home partnerships.

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Parents aren’t the roadies, they’re now in the band

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 14:06:03 +0000

The pandemic changed the way parents view their role in education, offering a “backstage pass” to the classroom. This new visibility has given rise to demands for more engagement and transparency, sometimes framed by the political parents’ rights movement.

Whether viewed positively or negatively, one fact remains: schools must engage parents more effectively. This means making them a permanent member of “the band”.

Parent engagement has long been linked to student success. Research consistently shows that students perform better academically, behaviorally and socially when their families are involved in their education. Federal mandates, like those under ESSA, require Title I schools to engage parents in meaningful ways.

The Department of Education’s updated emphasize structured and transparent community and family engagement. Schools are now expected to document how they provide regular, clear communication and ensure parents’ voices are reflected in decision-making processes, particularly in the use of federal funds.

Parent engagement pitfalls

The true intersection for parents is the concert hall of the schoolhouse, not the superintendent’s office. A 2024 survey shows that 82% of parents rated teachers highly for their handling of education, only 21% of dissatisfied parents believed that their school superintendents prioritized academic excellence (National Parents Union, 2024).

This disconnect highlights a broader trend of discontent. Parents are eager for a more significant role in decision-making processes, particularly regarding curriculum and school policies about topics such as cell phones, library materials and transportation. But many feel their voices are not heard ().

Many are frustrated by what they see as superficial engagement efforts—sporadic meetings, limited communication, unclear pathways for feedback and lack of transparency into how their feedback is implemented. They can tell when planned engagement is a “box checker” for compliance. Give them some credit.

As schools attempt to meet these demands, they need to navigate the growing pressure from parents, many of whom express frustration with a perceived lack of accountability from school leaders. Without clear, routine communication and evidence that parent input is valued, trust in school boards and administrators continues to erode (Mittal, 2024).

Engagement is now a core competency that public school leaders must master. Studies show that without intentional efforts, parent engagement remains fragmented. Research into community schools shows that while schools provide crucial wraparound services, they often fail to maintain robust communication channels with families (Galindo & Sanders, 2022).

This gap is especially pronounced in low-income and diverse communities where schools must do more to ensure equitable access to engagement opportunities. Joyce Epstein’s work on school-family partnerships highlights that districts need strong leadership and clear roles at every level to successfully engage parents in their children’s education (Epstein & Boone, 2022).

Solidifying partnership roles on smaller issues helps foster agreement when tougher issues like school closures come up. We can ask the community to support us if they aren’t part of the band. That’s like saying, “you don’t know why we need to close schools, but if we hum the tune you should play it.”

3 bright spots

There are places where engagement is trending and going viral. We offer three ‘bright spots’ aligned to the research, from the state, district, and school levels:

State: has a leadership ladder approach, which establishes clear roles for parent engagement at every level—from state to school. This initiative has scaled up family involvement programs across urban and rural districts.
District: utilizes a full-service community school model, offering academic support, healthcare and family resources. This comprehensive approach has deepened parent involvement and increased school enrollment.
School: A public charter school, , reflects its vision of families as critical partners in the educational process, with core values centered on purposeful collaboration, accountability, and equity.

What can we learn from these examples? Simply to be flexible, structured, responsive and collaborative. Above all, engagement requires training. Like any competency, it needs to be learned and applied. Education leaders should seek this level of training and ensure it’s incorporated into pre-service prep programs and in-service leadership development. Consider incorporating these five core areas:

Flexible and trust-building communication: Schools should offer a range of communication methods (virtual, in-person, text, email) to accommodate diverse family needs and schedules, while also ensuring transparency. highlights that schools must focus on building relational trust between educators and families, particularly post-pandemic when many families experienced a deeper connection to the classroom. Communication must be frequent, accessible and relationship-centered to foster trust and collaboration (Mapp & Kuttner, 2013).
Routine feedback loops: Schools need to establish regular feedback cycles where parents see how their input shapes decisions. This means creating structured opportunities for parents to co-construct solutions with school staff. This ensures that parent input is visible in school decision-making processes. For example, schools can involve families in planning meetings or advisory boards focused on student outcomes and school policies.
Culturally responsive engagement: It is critical to meet parents where they are, culturally and linguistically. This goes beyond just language interpreters. It can further enhance engagement by including culturally relevant events or workshops that address specific needs of the community.
Collaborative family-school partnerships: Establish family engagement teams or committees that work directly with school leaders to set shared goals, develop initiatives and monitor measurable progress. These partnerships ensure that both families and educators are working together as co-educators in students’ learning journeys.
Teach communications for families and educators: Schools should provide professional development for educators on how to engage families effectively and respectfully, while offering parents workshops or resources that help them support their child’s learning at home. For example, schools can host workshops on navigating the curriculum or understanding state testing, empowering parents to play a more active role in their child’s education.

Not sure where to start?

Here are a few practical quick starts:

Use multiple modes of communication—email, text, in-person meetings, and virtual platforms—to reach parents where they are.
Host “open-door” sessions where parents can casually drop in to discuss concerns with school leaders.
Create a parent engagement task force that includes parents, teachers, and community leaders to co-design involvement strategies.
Collect and analyze data – by school, grade, demographic, and activity type – to broaden outreach to and engagement with all families.

In the post-pandemic era, parent engagement is not just a legal requirement—it’s our music score. Schools must adopt communication strategies that are flexible, culturally responsive and consistent if they hope to meet the demands of today’s families and foster long-term partnerships for student success.

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Why community is so important in this growing district

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 13:07:29 +0000

In the second-largest school district in West Virginia, Superintendent leads one of the minority of school districts nationwide that is growing its student population in a post-pandemic era of K12 education. His community-driven approach to leadership and commitment to academic excellence make it a place where families want to enroll their kids.

Berkeley County Schools has gained just over 500 students this year, bringing its enrollment to more than 20,000, says Saxe. It also has the largest non-English-speaking student population in the state.

Leveraging community engagement to drive learning

This is the first year at Berkeley County for Saxe, who was recently named West Virginia’s 2024 Superintendent of the Year. This school year, he has prioritized strengthening community engagement and upholding the district’s standard for academic excellence.

“When we think about relationships with stakeholders, our teachers, administrators, students and, most importantly, our families, it can’t be underscored enough as to the impact those relationships have on the student learning experience,” Saxe explains.

Part of that commitment to engagement involves a promise to create safe and secure schools for students, which Saxe consistently communicates to his families.

“It’s important for our parents to know that when they drop their students off they’re in a safe place and if an emergency should occur, they are equipped with the knowledge, experience and skills necessary to respond in a way that keeps everybody safe,” says Saxe.

Berkeley County Schools Superintendent Ryan Saxe (Photo provided by Berkeley County Schools).

Second to safety is setting high-caliber expectations for student academics by ensuring instructional resources and teacher professional development are aligned with the district’s strategic plan. Saxe says there’s high-quality communication between his teachers and school administration fueling this mission.

“That sort of comes back to relationships,” he says. “We have to have relationships built on trust to identify what’s working and where we need to improve to make sure the expectations for student achievement can be accomplished.”

One of the challenges he faces in this area stems from the district’s rapidly growing student population. Many of his schools are over capacity and he and his team are working on solutions to relieve their class sizes for teachers.

“We’re building new schools,” says Saxe. “We’re doing some planning based on where our growth is occurring where we need to add schools, where we need to add classrooms so that we can take some of the pressure off of overcrowding off of our elementary, middle and high schools.

Staying innovative

Many of these decisions are grounded on several networking opportunities that Saxe relies on to “sharpen the saw,” as he describes. When he encounters an issue, he often resorts to his colleagues in AASA, The School Superintendents Association for guidance.

“I have a group of people that I can reach out to and say, ‘This is what’s going on. Have you encountered it, and how have you addressed the challenge,'” he says. “To stay current with innovation, it’s about not only networking with those individuals but being very active in the school superintendents association.

“I have found that the AASA is just a wonderful organization that not only unites school district leaders, but it is very informative and provides great professional development around what is innovation and the direction we’re going when it comes to public education.”

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Unlock Proven Strategies for K-12 Family Engagement: Key Insights from the Latest National Benchmark Survey

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 12:48:24 +0000

Date & Time: Thursday, November 7 at 2 p.m. ET

Learn how to create strong partnerships with families and improve student outcomes from the results of a recently completed national survey conducted by Edge Research*, a national marketing research firm with a specialty in education.

In this interactive webinar, TalkingPoints, the edtech non-profit that spearheaded the study, will be joined by Edge Research and family engagement expert, Ari Gerson-Kessler, to provide actionable insights and practical strategies based on its findings.

Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your district’s family engagement efforts.

Key Takeaways:

Proven Strategies for Impact: Family engagement practices that have shown the greatest success in boosting student outcomes.
Effective Day-to-Day Practices: Daily practices and communication channels that will best engage families across your school or district.
Training for Success: How frequently schools and districts train staff on effective family engagement—and how you can do the same.
Overcoming Barriers: The biggest challenges schools and families face in implementing impactful engagement strategies, and how to overcome them.
Leadership vs. Frontline Views: The differences in perspectives on family engagement between K-12 leaders and those on the front line, like principals and teachers.

Speakers

Karen Emmerson, Vice President, Edge Research

Ari Gerzon-Kessler, Coordinator of Family Partnerships, Boulder Valley School District (CO)

Heather Dooley, Senior Director, Brand Marketing & Communications, TalkingPoints

Sponsored by

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How happy leaders can build happy school communities

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 18:07:22 +0000

Leaders want schools to be happy places, where students cannot wait to arrive in the morning and see teachers, friends, staff and administrators all smiling and where families take comfort in knowing their children are happy and safe.

Happy school communities share an understanding that every individual is valued and that challenges will be met collectively. These communities find joy in shared effort, especially in the absence of corrosive or constraining anxieties—such communities set tones of what the Coalition of Essential Schools calls “unanxious expectation.”

School communities need leaders who know themselves and their schools and who seek joy and freely express pleasure in their work, even in the face of challenges that come with administration at the school and district levels. Today these can include chronic absenteeism, teacher shortages, post-pandemic learning deficits and media-fed concerns about technologies and violence.

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Principals and district leaders are schools’ public faces and set a tone not just by policies but by presence and demeanor. If these faces smile, schools will be happier places. Leaders cannot be happy all the time, but good nature and humor promote positive relationships with staff, students and families.

Principals, especially, play a crucial role in teacher and staff happiness. Acknowledging hard work, dedication and challenges can create environments where all feel valued, supported and motivated. Sending thank-you notes, modeling open communication and offering appropriate personal support can have a great positive effect on schools’ professional cultures.

As teachers are always watching and evaluating their leaders and how they handle themselves, it is important for principals to project happiness, even in difficult situations. Principals must actively engage in such situations, demonstrating empathy and working to understand how individuals are faring; when people feel understood, they are happier.

From academic pressures to bullying to personal struggles outside of school, student unhappiness is ever present. Experiences that make students happy include participation in activities, rewards, success and social relationships, and schools must develop and actively support programs that engage students and acknowledge their successes.

A school leader can build positive relationships with students by walking the halls, the cafeteria and even the bus stop—not as a stern monitor but as a relaxed and genial presence. The more the leader is seen, especially wearing a smile, the more connected and cheerful others will feel. Students who appear isolated can be noted and perhaps referred to counseling or activities in which they will not feel alone or shunned.

Some schools have professional learning communities whose charge encompasses all aspects of student life—from advising to discipline to student activities. These teams meet regularly to discuss institutional and individual issues and concerns and to strategize ways to support students and reduce bullying, alienation and other problematic behaviors or trends.

A leader must find out from unhappy parents and guardians what is important to the family; active engagement can help frustrated adult family members take heart from having an ally in resolving issues. Even in an unpleasant situation, the leader must engage directly and show that a happy result is the goal.

Aristotle wrote that happiness is about a good spirit, and maintaining such a spirit will inspire staff, students and families. Pervasive and palpable happiness can counter the negative effects of “downers” like anxiety, bullying, mistrust, academic stress, depression and suicidal ideation—issues that can affect an entire school community. Not every crisis can be averted, but issues can be reduced.

A school leader’s “classroom” is the entire community, and a community looks to its leader—in the hallway, at lunch, in public meetings, at games or plays or concerts, and even in the grocery store. A happy, confident leader who knows and is known by the community is a gift—a model of positivity and optimism that radiates through the hallways and into the hearts of members.

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